He gripped my chin lightly in his thumb and forefinger to tip my head his way so that I could witness the implacable resolve in his face.
“Anytime,” he echoed in the same tone Sebastian had used.
“For the next three years?” I dared to venture.
I’d always been a fan of “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Adam was a man who demanded a brave lover, and I would be no less for him. Even if he wasn’t courageous enough to accept me that way.
“For the next three years,” he agreed, long, tangled brown lashes sweeping over his cheeks before lifting to reveal those green eyes. “And any time after it. No matter what you are to me in the future, Linnea Kai, you have become my friend. The first one I had made in a very long time, and one I will never let myself be foolish enough to lose. I made the mistake of letting someone good and kind go a long time ago, and I’ve lived with those painful consequences. I’m a smart enough man not to make the same mistakes twice.”
I closed my eyes as they burned, and my nose itched. Beside me, Sebastian shifted and let out a small sigh.
“You’re going to make me cry,” I warned them. “I’m not a pretty crier either. I get splotchy and snotty.”
They both chuckled just a little, but it felt like a feat nonetheless.
“Booth is dealing with the cops. They want to speak with you, but I told them they could call tomorrow and you’d arrange to go in if you want to press charges. What Hank orchestrated was essentially assault,” Adam said darkly, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
I shivered, both because the situation called for it and because that cruel current prompted a muscle memory of the way he’d ordered Sebastian and me into our pleasures at the club the other day.
“I don’t know if I have to go so far as to press charges…”
“You absolutely should,” Adam rebutted. “To show them that you will not be pushed around. This is just the beginning of a lifefilled with scrutiny, Nea. Do not let them think you are an easy target, or they will never leave you be.”
“He’s right,” Seb agreed, squeezing my hand.
I sighed, the gusty exhale stirring the little braids that hung over each cheek. “Fine, but you’re both bossy.”
They did not have the same smile. Sebastian’s was broad enough to cut creases into his cheeks and beside his yellow eyes, his lips darkly pink and stretched wide over white, almost wolfish teeth. Adam’s was a small thing, restrained to a tipping of full lips that revealed only a sliver of square, straight teeth and a sparkle in his green gaze. But the shape of both those smiles defined the same thing in response to my comment: smug satisfaction.
They were the kind of men who enjoyed being high-handed if it meant keeping their people safe and happy.
And somehow, I had become their person.
“Speaking of bossy, we need to do something about Miranda,” Sebastian said, a gentle question in his voice. “However you think is best, but something clearly has to change. You are running yourself ragged,trottolina. I know you have an abundance of energy, but even you have your limits.”
“Yes,” I agreed, sagging even more deeply into the old couch. It smelled faintly musty and unpleasant, but the mingled scent of Adam’s and Sebastian’s colognes overtook it. “I guess I’ll have to pick one of the homes for her next week. A lot of them have waiting lists—”
“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Sebastian said silkily, and I knew he meant to use his fame or money to grease the squeaky wheels.
“Actually,” Adam said. “I had a thought about that some time ago. The surprise I teased you about on the phone while I was in New York?” He waited for me to nod that I remembered. “I had the guesthouse set up for Miranda. There is a private nursingservice with three highly qualified aides who have worked with patients who had FTD before. One of them even included end-of-life care.”
He paused to gauge my expression, but I couldn’t be sure of it myself because I was fuzzy with shock.
“You told me you didn’t want to abandon her like everyone else in her life has done,” Adam explained quietly. “If you aren’t comfortable with having her on the property, that’s perfectly fine. It just seemed prudent, given that you were supposed to move in soon and, now obviously even sooner, given I will not leave you so vulnerable to the paparazzi. This house is too exposed, and it could be unsafe for you. I know you value your independence, and this is ahead of schedule, but—”
Adam Meyers was uncharacteristically babbling because he was nervous I would be cross with him for doing something so unexpectedly lovely I had no words to express my gratitude.
So, instead, I kissed him.
It started as a hard punctuation. An exclamation mark of thanks. But then it morphed into something else as he caught my chin again, tipped my head at a better angle, and softened his lips, coaxing me to do the same.
He hummed into the kiss, stroking into my mouth in a lazy, almost proprietary way that made my thighs clench.
Sebastian stroked his thumb along the ridge of the knuckles on my hand as he held it, as if praising me for kissing Adam.
Between them both, safe and touched with a kind of tender, protective understanding I felt some of the colossal weight I’d been carrying for months ease off my shoulders.
